Column of Honor: 01.07.12: Chairshocked

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 01.07.2012

What was the controversy surrounding the unprotected chair shots in the Steen/Corino and Briscoes/Haas & Benjamin matches at ROH Final Battle 2011? Why is it important for both wrestlers and fans to pay attention to what the others are saying in the debate about it? Exploring those issues, plus a preview of tonight’s ROH TV tapings in Baltimore, new match announcements and a very special tribute to Mike Bennett and his 2011 title chase!


Welcome to the New Year and welcome to the Column. I've made my New Year's Resolutions…and while I haven't broken them, I haven't exactly started on them either. Oh well, there's always next week.

---

=Chairshocked=



Photo Credit: rohwrestling.com


The most fervent discussion among wrestling fans, internet reviewers and even wrestlers themselves following Ring of Honor's year-end internet Pay Per View Final Battle 2011 did not revolve around on the results of the main-event (Davey Richards' title retention over Eddie Edwards), or the official return of Kevin Steen to active duty on the ROH roster, or the weird and questionable behavior of New York City fans attending the December 23rd, 2011 show at Hammerstein Ballroom. Instead what was on the tip of everyone's tongue and keyboard fingers concerned the usage of multiple unprotected chair shots during the Kevin Steen-Steve Corino and Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team-Briscoe Brothers matches on those shows.

The debate took on a life of its own in the week after the event had taken place and provoked comments by the likes of Steve Corino and The Young Bucks). There have been widely differing opinions about what took place at the show and about the usage of chairs and other weapons in professional wrestling in 2012. Though on the surface, the debate concerning using unprotected chair shots in 2012 seems very easy to resolve especially with all of the knowledge about the effects of repeated head trauma and concussions that have been revealed in the past five years. However, cutting through to the heart of the matter is no easy task, one which gets at the core of whether or not professional wrestling and the wrestlers themselves can perform their version of entertainment with all the tools at their disposal and what truly should be considered the most dangerous practices in the sport.

What happened during both the Steen versus Corino and Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team versus The Briscoes matches was that the violence escalated to the point where chairs were used and hits were repeatedly done to the head and back. Several of these chair shots were performed without the wrestlers getting their hands up in the air, the expected way most wrestlers protect themselves from these weapon shots (usually getting them up quickly enough that the audience cannot register it happening with their eyes—or as in the case of many smarter fans, those who are willing to ignore it in the exercising of willful suspension of disbelief).

In addition, chairs were used a props during the major dramatic highpoints in both matches. Steve Corino had lined up chairs and opened them up, but they ended up being used against him as Kevin Steen blasted him through them with a package piledriver, which directly led to the finish of the match. In the Briscoes match, there was a brutal and one-sided brawl during first eight-minutes of the match, before the bell had even rung to start the bout. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin spent much of that time smashing The Briscoes with weapons, beginning with the ROH World Tag Team Title belts and then moving on to chairs. They smashed them in the back and in the side. Later on, Charlie Haas would once again grab the chairs and smash each of The Briscoes with a chair shot to the head and again, like with the Steen-Corino match, these were unprotected.

It was a series of events that resulted in Nigel McGuinness (who was on commentary) begging the wrestlers to "put their hands up" and protect themselves from the heavy weaponry. That was a moment that resonated with those in the audience who recognized that McGuinness himself had suffered through a number of concussions and that he had once taken several unprotected "headbutts" to the post during one of ROH's most famous bouts in its ten-year history, the World Title vs. Pure Title unification bout at Unified in late 2006. These unprotected hits did not go unnoticed by those in position to comment upon and review them. Pro Wrestling Torch's Sean Radican wound up refusing to rate the Steve Corino vs. Kevin Steen match because he was too disgusted and upset at what he opined was the unnecessary usage of the unprotected chair shots to the head. Soon, Steve Corino blogged a defense of the chair shots in his match using a comparison of professional wrestling working similarly to a magic show. In addition, one of the Jackson brothers wrote a barrage of Tweets stating that head bumps incurred just as much risk as a chair shot. He states that this is not a defense of chair shots but that wrestling journalists and newsletters should also focus their attention on other parts of the wrestling game that happen more frequently but can hurt just as much as chair shots.Other wrestlers like Jimmy Jacobs also wound up making similar comments about the issue through Twitter and other venues.

It would have been naïve for Corino, Steen, The Briscoes, Haas and Benjamin not to think that they wouldn't be receiving at least some form of backlash from at least some of those who have an opinion and some real estate on the World Wide Web. After all, WWE received a considerable amount of reproach for just one chair to the head during the Undertaker – Triple H match at Wrestlemania XXVII this past April. Just one chair smash to the head in arguably the most important match on the card for the most mainstream wrestling company's most important show of the year with two of the most veteran performers on the roster after not having a chair used in many years drew heavy criticism. No way was what happened at Final Battle 2011 going to go overlooked or ignored.

In my opinion, there is a time and a place for the use of extreme violence like brawling and weapons, including chair shots. Specifically, when a blood feud has taken a significant amount of time to develop and the natural endpoint is a demonstration of violence that is the culmination of the feud. Steve Corino and Kevin Steen had been building to their Final Battle 2011 encounter for over six months (actually, closer to a year since the exile of Steen and Corino road to redemption storylines began after the shakeout of Final Battle 2010). It made complete sense that both men would go to those lengths given the story being told of Steen's insatiable insanity and Corino's vow to return to a more evil nature in order to destroy the monster he had created. That opened the door for this kind of extreme match, because it was necessary to tell the story of hatred between the two men. However, looking back at just what was done in the match, from the guardrail spots to the chairs and even the post-match table break, nothing that happened was more extreme than previous ROH matches or even previous Steen and Corino efforts. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Generico-Steen went to further extremes than this one.

The Haas & Benjamin / Briscoe Brothers feud also had been carrying on for six months, since the four-team elimination at Best in the World 2011 in June 2011. As well, that whole issue began with chair shots as a centerpiece, as The Briscoes attacked Haas and Benjamin with a barrage of chair shots after the match, thus immediately making their issue a grudge feud. Also, chairs were a continued theme, as both teams used them (to the body) over the course of the next few months to continue the storyline of bitter feelings and the desire of both teams to go to great lengths for payback against the other side.

Chris Gee Schoon Tong of Pro Wrestling Ponderings revisited those matches by watching the iPPV replay on Go Fight Live. He re-watched ROH World Tag Team Title match and counted the number of chair shots to the head. He came up with two-one to Mark and one to Jay. There were belt shots and chair shots to the back, hard and loud sounding ones that sent a massive "crack" sound throughout the entire building. Aside from the weaker chair shots, there was actually a moment later in the match I thought looked and sounded far more violent, that being when the wrestlers used the wooden board that Shelton Benjamin brought out from the back.

From my perch live at the show, I have to admit that the chair shots were the least of my worries, as I was distracted by a number of external factors such as the negative crowd behavior around me. The chair shots in the Steen-Corino match blended in to the wash of violence that was orchestrated by both men during their grudge-settler. Meanwhile, the chair shots during the tag title match did go noticed, but while I wasn't particularly pleased to see them happen, I did see that they were relatively weak hits. The chair shot by Charlie Haas on the outside, did not go at full force and it was possible to see that they were pulled somewhat. It was slow and weak enough that it would have been just as well to either go full force with them or not pull the trigger on it at all.

As for the Corino-Steen match, Corino himself noted that the worst pain he suffered through that match was not a weapon shot, but rather a shoulder bump off the post early on in the match that he took wrong when he gave himself an extra step. The guardrail superplex looked painful, but it went off without a hitch. In fact Corino has used that spot several times in Ring of Honor grudge matches over the years, specifically in his wars against Homicide. The package piledriver through the chairs looked ungodly horrific (and from the perspective of providing a powerful visual, absolutely the right way to finish the match), but Corino was fine afterwards. No concussions and no injuries (beyond what he was selling to the crowd as a result of taking such a "devastating" battering by his bitter enemy) suffered by performing this "magic trick".

The idea of wrestling as magic and illusion seems funny on the surface, but there is something apt in the comparison between the two forms of entertainment, especially when the wrestlers "perform" the trick and the audience views it. There is a lot of illusion and misdirection used to distract the audience from some of the secrets. Sometimes, one's perspective on the "reality" of what is going on in the ring is skewed and purposefully so by the wrestlers performing in the ring. Sure, wrestling fans knows more secrets than ever before, as some illusions have been broken and told about, much like how some magic tricks have been exposed over the years (like those reality shows which demonstrated how magicians performed tricks). The rise of the internet and its free-flow availability of information has increased a base knowledge of what is going on in the ring and why.

Yet, fans don't know everything about working a wrestling match, both because the wrestlers still have many tricks up their sleeve and because sometimes, fans still want to be worked. Think about this, many "smart wrestling fans" know that the loud sound heard during kicks can be done through a split-second "hand-is-quicker-than-the-eye" slapping of the thighs or wrestling tights, but still so many in the audience look at the point of impact (the head, the chest, etc) and not where the point of sound originated. Just so, wrestlers still can work the "reality" of a match (or an angle) because of the limitations of human sensory experiences and the working of reality that some fans think they know so much about yet still fall for (and some willingly do so because that suspension of disbelief is a part of why they come to the shows and why they like wrestling so much).

Regardless, the acceptance of wrestling as performance art (like a magic show) still does not mitigate or excuse the real and serious dangers of head trauma and the efforts to limit its negative consequences. A magician may not really saw off their lovely assistant's head off in that box contraption, but a wrestler may take a bad head blow at any time. Now, that may be with or without a chair shot, but common sense will dictate that getting hit in the head with a chair no matter how soft one throws it still isn't anything to condone. There was a reason my mother didn't want me wrestling with my sister or hitting her with the dining room chairs…and there is a reason why WWE is so insistent on drilling the "don't try this at home" message at the beginning of their DVDs and video games.

The argument that regular bumps are just as bad for the human body as a chair shot on its face may not be wrong or illogical, but it also makes it easy for someone to dismiss out of hand the damage that can be done if taking a chair shot without any protection. These two kinds of risks are not mutually exclusive. Obviously dropping down in a fall (even a controlled one and even if done with proper form every time out) is not great for your body, but neither is running into a pile of bodies on an (American) football field, or performing headers in a soccer game—as demonstrated in a recent study by the Radiological Society of North America. Some wrestlers have called this the "bump card" (most memorably to me by Matt Hardy—and in hindsight how unfortunately true this turned out to be for him). There is only a limited time and a certain amount of bumps one has in their body—and thus, so much more the reason for wrestlers to think smarter about when and how they use them.

However, a chair shot to the head counts just as much on the bump card as a back bump—and considering the research done by Chris Nowinski and Sports Legacy Institute, perhaps even more so. The studies of the brains of deceased athletes conducted by SLI have proven the damaging and terrible effect of repeated head trauma, how it destroys cells and ages the brain prematurely. It is true that concerns about concussions have been around in the sports world for decades, it is only in the past five years or so that the issues have been treated with the seriousness it deserves. This has resulted in increased efforts among many sports programs to deal with these issues—some would say way too late in the game, but that procedures and new policies are taking effect now is better than nothing. Even WWE eventually took the matter seriously and began impact testing on their physicals. Casually dismissing the use of unprotected chair shots to the head as magic or no worse than back bumps demonstrates that for as much progress and education of these issues has been accomplished, there will still be counter-arguments by athletes in many different sports about what steps are or are not necessary to address those concerns.

Wrestling is painful to the wrestlers performing the moves, but while one can't eliminate the sport entirely (though some of its detractors would want that very much), that very fact should inspire wrestlers and those involved in the field to take steps to be as safe as possible in their performance. Steve Corino assures us in his blog that those steps were taken for his match. For whatever it is worth, I believe him. His nearly twenty years of career experience—of national and international touring, of having family members involved in the business—speak to his knowledge and his intelligence about dealing with those kinds of issues.

On the other hand, sometimes it takes an outside presence to push back on long-held standards of acceptable practices…and the even longer-held feelings of male machismo in sports and entertainment. As for fans, the smarter ones have become more educated about the damage that can be done through repeated concussions and with that knowledge there is an increase in the concern for the well-being of the performers they watch year-after-year. They have seen so many premature deaths of wrestlers, not just due to head trauma, but issues like drugs and abuse, heart damage and such, that it is only natural for there to be an outcry when seeing chair shots in an era when not only are there so few of them done on a mainstream level, but there is also so much more education about why it is necessary for it to happen as little as possible.

Now of course, fans will still react hugely to dives and spotfests, to bloodbaths and extreme moments. That's the nature of the beast and how an audience instinctively reacts to the portrayal of violence in the moment it happens. However, it wouldn't be imprudent to assume that these same fans also want safety measures to be taken so that there can be as little future tragedies as possible.

Ultimately, wrestling fans and those who review shows should realize that for as much as they have the right to express their opinion on the events that happen inside the ring, there will also be that dividing line of the guardrail that hits them between their seats and ringside. It is okay to be concerned for a wrestlers' safety and even to express feelings of outrage and anger if one feels things have gone too far. Fans should be able to tell the promotion what one wants out their wrestling shows, but that final call rests not just with an opinion on an internet column or forum, but with a wallet and money dished out (or not) for a ticket. I wonder how many of those who are upset by the chair shots to the head will be right back there for the next ROH show…and maybe even screaming out "This is Awesome" when someone gets smashed through a table (hopefully in the most safe manner humanly possible). Until then, that separation between "audience" and "performer" mitigates the criticism of the action, so that while comments about the art of the performance or the physical work behind it may come from an earnest place, it must stop short of flat-out dictating what wrestlers can or cannot do in the ring.

On the other hand, professional wrestlers must not completely wipe-out criticism and concern just because it comes from those on the other side of the ring. Dismissing out-of-hand what is now very public knowledge about the impact of head shots or excusing it under the rationale that everything hurts in professional wrestling is ignorant and ultimately a hindrance to moving further in addressing those concerns. While the audience can't necessarily be in the shoes of wrestlers like Steve Corino and Kevin Steen, they can provide the performers valuable feedback by bringing up these concerns on what they want to see (or what they don't want to see). It needs to be listened to, considered and evaluated on the way to having the industry as a whole continue to take those steps that will help maximize performer safety. That's not to say that, in this case, the chair shot needs to be completely eliminated from the "toolbox" that can be used in professional wrestling, but that especially now, there is a time and a place for that kind of action and that careful consideration should be given so that it does not appear more than what is absolutely necessary to tell the stories of conflict and resolution inside the wrestling ring.

---

At the beginning of 2011, "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett vowed that within one year that he would become the Ring of Honor World Champion. Then he extended it to include ALL ROH Titles. Well, the countdown is over, so let's see how he did. Was 2011 THE YEAR OF THE PRODIGY? WAS IT?


ROH World Titles Won: 0
ROH World Tag Team Titles Won: 0
ROH TV Titles Won: 0
Days Left to Reach Goal: 0


NO IT WAS NOT!


The countdown clock has reached 00:00 on Mike Bennett's quest to win a ROH title in 2011. Too bad, so sad. Now, had Mike Bennett actually won the TV Title last week at Final Battle 2011, this would have been the space where I would have eaten crow and given "The Prodigy" his due. There would have been no problem with doing that. However…since that didn't happen…and I don't have to do that…and with the knowledge that come tonight Mike Bennett COULD very well be the new TV champion, but for right now he isn't…


LET'S CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES C'MON!



WOOOOOOOOOOO HOO!






GO BROCK, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY WE'RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!





NO TELEVISION TITLE FOR YOU!

---

As of 01/07/11


=ROH World Champion=
Davey Richards

Champion since 06/26/2011 | 7* successful defenses
Best in the World 2011 defeated Eddie Edwards in New York, NY to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. Jay Lethal in Philadelphia, PA on 01/20/11.


--Davey Richards defeated Tommy End in Barcelona, Spain on 07/04/2011.
--Davey Richards defeated Chase Owens in Kingsport, KY on 08/04/11.*
--Davey Richards defeated Colt Cabana in Carrolton, GA on 08/06.11.
--Davey Richards defeated Roderick Strong in Chicago, Illinois on 08/13/11.
--Davey Richards defeated Daga in Tulancingo, MEX on 10/15/11.
--Davey Richards defeated El Generico in Chicago Ridge, IL on 11/19/11.
-- Davey Richards defeated Eddie Edwards in New York, NY on 12/23/11.

* These matches are not as yet officially recognized by Ring of Honor on their records page, but as they did occur as billed "ROH World Title" matches for the live crowd in attendance they are listed here for posterity.



=ROH World Tag Team Champions=
The Briscoe Brothers: Jay & Mark Briscoe

Champions since 12/23/2011 | - successful defenses (NEW CHAMPIONS)
Final Battle 2011 defeated Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) in New York, NY to win the championship.
Next Defense TBA



=ROH Television Champion=
Jay Lethal

Champion since 08/13/2011 | 3 successful defenses
Sinclair TV Tapings defeated El Generico in Chicago Ridge, IL to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett in Baltimore, MD on 01/07/11.


--Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with Mike Bennett in Louisville, KY on 10/01/11.
--Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with El Generico in Louisville, KY on 11/05/11.
--Jay Lethal defeated El Generico & "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett in New York, NY on 12/23/11.



=Proving Ground Contenders=

These wrestlers have earned a future title shot in the following ROH title divisions through the Proving Ground system.

World Title: None
World Tag Team Title: The All-Night Express (earned on SBG TV tapings, episode airing 12/10/11)
TV Title: Roderick Strong (earned on 11/19/11)




The Briscoes Hype Up 1/7/12 TV Tapings


Honestly, I don't know if The Briscoes can top this one. Amazing, epic, hysterical. From "make sure you got the shoes" to Mark and Jay going to a knife face-off, to Jay muttering threats to his "Big Man" and Mark threatening to tell on him and "I'm not the ticket lady" and Papa Mike chasing Jay around for stealing the shoes and stogie, this one is fantastic.

---

-Tonight's television tapings at the Du Burns Arena:

No Time Limit - ROH TV champion Jay Lethal vs. Mike Bennett - Well, I guess the celebration has to stop somewhere, so once again let's get prepared for Mike Bennett to win the TV title. Obviously this is it for now—either ROH pulls the trigger on the switch or they have to move on to new contenders for Lethal to wrestle against in the New Year. Take into consideration that Lethal already has that "ticket to the next step up" that ROH has been trying to build into their booking of the TV Title division in the form of a ROH World Title match against Davey Richards in Philadelphia on the 20th. Sure it would be super marquee to have a match where it's "World Champion versus TV Champion", but Lethal doesn't need to be the champion at that point either. The match is no time limit, but I wouldn't expect this one to push the boundaries of the one-hour length per episode. Bennett could gain the victory here through sneaky means, or if Maria Kanellis shows up again, perhaps she will be more active and persuasive in helping her man win the title.

ROH champion Davey Richards & Kyle O'Reilly vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander - ROH has booked mentor and protégé of "Team Richards" together throughout the month of January, which seems to have pushed O'Reilly's regular tag team partner Adam Cole off to the side for at least the short term (could be the start of an alienation angle or it could be nothing in the long run) and suggests that Davey and his on-again, off-again American Wolves tag team partner Eddie Edwards aren't heading toward reconciliation any time soon. A face vs. face match-up like this usually suggests a clean and fair fight with lots of time given to show-off each team's strengths. In this case, look for O'Reilly to step it up and for both members of C&C Wrestle Factory to showcase their athleticism and double-teams. I wouldn't rule out shenanigans from outside forces such as The House of Truth or The Young Bucks costing either team a victory, but O'Reilly can take a fall no problem and either Coleman or Alexander won't lose anything at all by losing to the ROH World Champion at this point in their run. It should be a really fun one and one of the better matches of the night.

Non-Title Tag Team Challenge: ROH Tag Team champions The Briscoes vs. Michael Elgin & Roderick Strong The sub-plot of this match involves The Briscoes challenging The House to put up their Monopoly Money paydays for the match (following the fall-out of both teams being on the losing side during the eighty-minute elimination match in North Carolina). The Briscoes are no strangers to being paired up against Roderick and they have wrestled against him many times over the years. The Briscoes brawling style meshes well with the powerhouse ability of Elgin, so expect a great tag team "fight" here.

Eddie Edwards vs. Mike Mondo - Well, hoorah, Mike Mondo gets yet another appearance on ROH television. Let's throw a big parade. The good news is that Edwards should come into this one like a man possessed following his loss to Richards and should take out a lot of his anger and frustration on Mondo. Or, given the pattern of previous ROH TV tapings in the new Sinclair regime and using non-regular ROH roster talent, Mondo will get more than fifty percent of the offense here and make Edwards look impotent as a result. THAT would suck.

TJ Perkins vs. Tomasso Ciampa - I predicted on a recent episode of Podcast of Honor (available through Pro Wrestling Ponderings) that TJ Perkins would be the man to end Ciampa's undefeated streak…but I feel that result would be too soon right now. Ciampa just had the biggest win of this ROH run and as the newly enrobed Crown Jewel of The Embassy I don't expect the momentum to stop right now. So I expect Ciampa to win this one, but it should be a good showcase for both men and probably a dark horse to make it on the upper tier of the best matches of the show.

Kenny King (with Rhett Titus) vs. Matt Jackson (with Nick Jackson) The ANX vs. Young Bucks feud heats up another notch with this singles match. The agility and speed of both King and Matt Jackson will be on display here, but The Bucks' will demonstrate very clearly their heel tendencies and willingness to take the low road. Titus won't be in any shape to do much because of his recuperation (see below) and that continues to make him a target—I wouldn't be surprised if either or both Jackson brothers set their sights on him at some point during the match.

Kevin Steen's first TV Taping as an official member of the ROH roster I'd expect Steen to squash and to destroy utterly some foolish young wrestler, but that won't be enough to satiate Steen's lust for violence. I think Steen will take the microphone and unleash a few challenges to the ROH locker room that will be answered before the night of tapings is over…

Steve Corino will appear, some surprise talent to appear and more Speaking of which, with Corino in the same building as Steen, I'd expect some sort of situation to develop between them, with perhaps a pull-apart or backstage fight thrown in as well.


-The Bravado Brothers have accepted an invitation to train at the Pro Wrestling NOAH dojo for the next three months. The losing streak angle and final loss at Final Battle 2011 were done in part to clear the boards and allow them to bow out of active Ring of Honor appearances for at least the short term.


-Rhett Titus underwent the long-expected surgery for his meniscus tear on December 28th, 2011 and will spend the next couple of weeks recovering.


-Chris Hero has been booked officially for the January 20th "Homecoming" show in Philadelphia. Hero is taking books only a few weeks in advance for right now as he awaits the results of his tests and news from WWE regarding his future there. Still, it's good to have Hero in Ring of Honor for however long he has left on the independent scene.

-Also on that show The Briscoes will fight a Proving Ground non-title match against a CHIKARA team yet to be announced. That ROH put up an image with the CHIKARA logo is certainly remarkable in this new era of corporate ownership…and certainly a fan-pleasing move among certain groups of the internet independent wrestling community. Well, except if that team is revealed to be Grizzly Redwood and Bobby Dempsey. It remains to be seen if this is a signal of a longer and more robust working agreement between the two groups in the year to come.


-The main event for the January 21st Norfolk house show will be Team Richards of Davey Richards and Kyle O'Reilly against The House of Truth of Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin with Truth Martini.


-Speaking of the ROH World Champion, Richards along with his tag partner Rocky Romero dropped the New Japan Pro Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles to Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi at the January 4th, 2012 NJPW Tokyo Dome show, one of that promotion's annual major events.


- On Saturday, ROH on Sinclair Broadcasting will debut in West Palm Beach, Florida on MyNetworkTV channels 15 and 1015 (in HD) at 8PM and CW channel 4 & 1004 (in HD) at 10PM. (News courtesy PWInsider.com)


-From now on, the Television title will only be defended on TV tapings and internet Pay Per View events. I'd still expect Proving Ground matches for the TV division to take place on house show / DVDs.


-Ring of Honor hosted their own fan-voted awards for 2011 on their website. Here are the quick results:

Wrestler of the Year: Davey Richards
Match of the Year: Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards- Best in the World 2011
Tag Team of the Year: The Briscoes
Breakout Star of the Year: Michael Elgin
Event of the Year: Best in the World 2011
Feud of the Year: The ANX vs. The Briscoes

Well…it's difficult to argue with a lot of those results…and in fact, there may be quite a few overlaps between the fan vote at ROHwrestling.com and my own Year-End Awards which will be out very soon. Kudos to ROH (and also to Gabe Sapolsky for doing the same for his DGUSA and EVOLVE promotions) for giving the fans a venue to vote awards as opposed to just kayfabing it up and deciding them upon themselves.


-After months of no new DVD releases, ROH is set to put up a whole slew of them for sale throughout the month of January. Gateway to Honor from Collinsville, Illinois and Survival of the Fittest 2011 from Dayton, Ohio will be available by the time this column goes to press. Expect Glory By Honor X soon after that and the two Carolina shows once the eighty-minute match airs later this month on the SBG syndicated series. I can't give ROH much praise for finally getting around to releasing these shows, because it's way past time. There's no way ROH can be cut slack at this point in time when independent promotions like PWG and CHIKARA have their schedule together and are releasing shows within a month (and in CHIKARA's case, less than a few weeks or even a few days) of them taking place.


-Ring of Honor has announced a Mid-West swing for April 27th in Dayton, Ohio and April 28th in Chicago, Illinois. They have also teased a Toronto, Ontario, Canada return for some point in 2011 (expect Kevin Steen to be super mega-godlike over there). The Dayton show will not take place at the Dayton Fairgrounds, the previous mainstay of ROH shows also known affectionately (or not) as "The Oven" due to the high temperatures inside the building especially during the summer. Instead the show will be run at Hara's North Hall. The Chicago show will be at the Frontier Fieldhouse as is usual, though interestingly they will be running the same day that CHIKARA puts on a show in that city.


-Though there had been rumors that El Generico was going to be taking a long absence at the least from Ring of Honor (the injury angle at Final Battle 2011 could be seen by some as a write-off of Generico in the promotion), the ROH newswire seems to indicate otherwise and mentions that they "hope to have word on when Generico will be back in ROH action very soon".


-I wanted to respond to s1rude's intriguing comment at the end of my Final Column feature. Here is what he asked regarding Kevin Steen:

Following up on Guest#7990's prediction and thoughts I have read & posted around the IWC - do you believe Steen will stay a 'villain' for long? I have a hard time being objective on this, as I am a huge Steen mark and have been since I started following independent wrestling ~3 years ago. So I want to cheer him, find his mic and ring work immensely entertaining, etc. I've also been bored with Richards for quite some time. And I don't think I'm alone. But as someone who follows the promotion closely and has seen more shows (live, DVD or iPPV), I'd be really interested to get your thoughts.

I agree with you—it's so easy and a lot of fun to root on Kevin Steen. He is the villain you love to love, not because he's a "cool heel" but because he portrays an insane heel and you never know what he is going to say or do—which is half the fun of following his exploits. As well, seeing how the fans essentially turned The Briscoes babyface for similar reasons makes it not so hard to believe that Steen can go full-out face some point soon. That said, despite Steen receiving a loud reaction from many fans during his appearances and seemingly being placed in the "anti-authority" role, I don't believe he will leave the villain role. Among the several reasons is the strength of the heroes who are opposing him: El Generico, for one, is a die-hard baby face and his popularity with the fans is not going to go away anytime soon. Let's face it, they are perfect for each other and it is serendipitous that they came up through the independent ranks over the last six-seven years both as partners and as opponents. Add Corino and Jacobs continuing their war against Steen and there are plenty of good guys to cheer for in the war against Steen.

Now, yes, the match against Richards will get interesting, as there has been a backlash to Richards among a segment of the fan base building for a while, not to mention he is in the ROH World Championship role which is a position when many ROH fans decide to turn on a wrestler they have previously supported. I'd imagine the title battle between the two would carry a split crowd at the very least, but it shouldn't be the impetus for a double switch or Steen face turn. Simply, the story being told needs for Steen to be the villain, and there can be a lot to be gained by keeping him in that position. Fans can still cheer for him and pop for what he does, but the story works best with him as the crazy villain.

---

Twitter me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein.


There is a boatload of plugs and links to get to—plenty of great reading from my fellow 411Mania staffers covering ROH, the independent scene and professional wrestling as a whole. Also, a whole lot of Brock Lesnar stories going on, wouldn't you know it.


-Shawn S. Lealos provides his review-in-retrospect of ROH's thirteen episode television run thus far in this week's new edition of The Wrestling 4 R's.

-Ryan Byers fills you in on the seven matches from the Puro scene in 2011 that you need to see in his latest Into the Indies.

-First place with a bullet on James Wright's Heel Report is none other than Kevin Steen.

-T.J. Hawke writes about how WWE can maximize their potential on Brock Lesnar (should he, you know, actually go there at some point) in his op-ed Views from the Hawkes Next column. He also has some critiques of ROH Final Battle 2011 through his iPPV review.

-Also, get access to a plethora of FREE independent wrestling matches featuring some of the biggest names from the past decade like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Tyler Black and Low Ki through TJ's Free Match Review column. FREE!

-Kevin Ford covers CHIKARA's Joshimania Night 1 and Joshimania Night 2 shows, which along with night three closed out the year with some really great women's wrestling including Sara Del Rey cementing her bid for Female Wrestler of the Year.

-Michael Weyer provides his outlook for WWE, TNA and ROH for 2012 in last week's Shining a Spotlight.

-Ronny Sarnecky writes about Daniel Bryan and CM Punk making good on their independent heritage as champions of honor in last week's Piledriver Report.


Thanks everyone for reading and for the comments. Until next time,

BROOKLYN!
DAH EM BAH SEE FOR-EVAH!
--Ari--